This book has been edited by Dr Jamie Trinidad, a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge and the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge. His research and publications address, among other things, issues of self-determination, territory (land and sea) and the practice of international courts and tribunals. He is a practising barrister and he has a PhD from Cambridge. ‘The Future of International Courts: Regional, Institutional and Procedural Challenges’ addresses some of the most pressing challenges faced by international courts and tribunals today: from geopolitical shifts, to rising populism and authoritarianism, to increasing demands for third-party participation in international proceedings. It includes a keynote chapter by Karen Alter, and several of the other contributors are friends of the Lauterpacht Centre. The book is due to be published in March 2019.

Community Interests Across International Law (published June 2018) - Eyal Benvenisti

This book explores the extent to which contemporary international law expects states to take into account the interests of others - namely third states or their citizens - when they form and implement their policies, negotiate agreements, and generally conduct their relations with other states.

It systematically considers the various manifestations of what has been described as ‘community interests’ in many areas regulated by international law and observes how the law has evolved from a legal system based on more or less specific consent and aimed at promoting particular interests of states, to one that is more generally oriented towards collectively protecting common interests and values. Through essays by experts in the field, this book explores topics such as the sources of international law and the institutional aspects of developing the law and covers a range of areas within the law.

Justification and Excuse in Internationa Law - Concept and Theory of General Defences (published January 2018) - Federica Paddeu

Cambridge University Press has published Justification and Excuse in International Law: Concept and Theory of General Defences by Dr Federica Paddeu as part of the Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law series.

The defences available to an agent accused of wrongdoing can be considered as justifications (which render acts lawful) or excuses (which shield the agent from the legal consequences of the wrongful act). This distinction is familiar to many domestic legal systems, and tracks analogous notions in moral philosophy and ordinary language.

Nevertheless, it remains contested in some domestic jurisdictions where it is often argued that the distinction is purely theoretical and has no consequences in practice. In international law too the distinction has been fraught with controversy, though there are increasing calls for its recognition.

About Parliament’s Secret War (published February 2018) - Veronika Fikfak

The invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the Coalition Government’s failure to win parliamentary approval for armed intervention in Syria in 2013, mark a period of increased scrutiny of the process by which the UK engages in armed conflict.

For much of the media and civil society there now exists a constitutional convention which mandates that the Government consults Parliament before commencing hostilities. This is celebrated as representing a redistribution of power from the executive towards a more legitimate, democratic institution.

This book offers a critical inquiry into Parliament’s role in the war prerogative since the beginning of the twentieth century, evaluating whether the UK’s decisions to engage in conflict meet the recognised standards of good governance: accountability, transparency and participation.

The analysis reveals a number of persistent problems in the decision-making process, including Parliament’s lack of access to relevant information, government ‘legalisation’ of parliamentary debates which frustrates broader discussions of political legitimacy, and the skewing of debates via the partial public disclosure of information based upon secret intelligence.

The book offers solutions to these problems to reinvigorate parliamentary discourse and to address government withholding of classified information. It is essential reading for anyone interested in war powers, the relationship between international law and domestic politics, and the role of the Westminster Parliament in questions of national security.